Tide Meets Baylor In Old Spice Event

The University of Alabama men’s basketball team will open play at the 2009 Old Spice Classic against Baylor on November 26 at 5:30 p.m. CST, ESPN Regional Television announced. The eight-team tournament takes place over Thanksgiving weekend, November 26, 27 and 29 at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla.

Alabama has a challenge in the first opponent as Baylor is coming off an appearance in the NIT Championship game and consecutive 20-win seasons. Meanwhile the Crimson Tide, under the first-year Bama Coach Anthony Grant, returns four starters from the 2008-09 squad.

All 12 games of the Old Spice Classic will be televised by the ESPN family of networks with the Crimson Tide’s opening game airing live on ESPN2. Alabama’s second game at the Old Spice Classic will be against either Florida State or Iona.

The other side of the Classic bracket features Creighton, Michigan, Marquette and Xavier. Six of the eight teams in the field reached the postseason last year, including four in the NCAA Tournament. Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through a bracket-tournament format. The two teams that remain undefeated throughout the tournament will face off in a championship match Sunday, Nov. 29, at 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN2.

The Old Spice Classic began play in 2006 with Arkansas (2006), North Carolina State (2007) and Gonzaga (2008) winning the previous tournaments.